WHEN ELIN HUGS TIGER WOODS AFTER CHARLIE’S ACE, IT’S A CHRISTMAS MOMENT

Fifteen years after her husband prompted a scandalous divorce, Elin Nordegren should be celebrated for keeping a family together — and she was there Sunday when her son made a hole-in-one with Tiger

They hugged, for all of us to watch. Tiger Woods leaned into Elin Nordegren in his red victory shirt, and adorably, she embraced him Sunday and kept tapping him on his back. Fifteen years ago, late on Thanksgiving, she screamed as she threw a phone at him and scratched his face. When he rushed out the door to his Escalade, Elin smashed the back windows before he struck a fire hydrant and a tree.

She used a golf club, which ended a marriage killed by his sex scandals. “I have let my family down, and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart,” Woods would say. “I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults, and I am far short of perfect.” The shocking new challenge was making sure their children survived the turmoil and made it through their early years and into their teens.

And here they are now, at the PNC Championship in Orlando. It’s where their 15-year-old son used his own golf club — a 7-iron — and drilled a hole-in-one on the par-3 fourth hole. Charlie was overjoyed, playing with Tiger in the pro-am event while his 17-year-old sister, Sam, served as their caddie. When it was time to celebrate in a wonderful family moment, there was Elin, the mother who should be honored herself. She brought up the kids and remained close to Woods — “one of my best friends,” he said — while having three kids with former NFL player Jordan Cameron. She was there when it mattered.

This is a Christmas story. Maybe you dislike Tiger, and I know him only from covering many of his major championships around the world. But somehow, he and his son and daughter were thrilled beyond belief as their mother grinned. They outlived the horror.

“You’re buying,” Tiger told Charlie, referring to drinks for the crowd.

“I’m broke,” Charlie said.

The tee-box squeeze between a father and son is more memorable than any joy shown by Woods in three decades. Forget the jumps and screams and the rolling Nike ball in the same red shirt. “That was the thrill of a lifetime to be able to have that moment with Charlie, make his first hole-in-one, Sam on the bag, just our family and friends,” Tiger said. “That's what this event is about. It's about bonding and family. This is one of the highlights we have ever had. I’m just so happy for him and the enjoyment we had.”

“I mean, it was awesome,” Charlie said. “It was a perfect 7-iron so I just kind of hit it. Just 175 (yards), a little down off the left, little cut seven. So it was the most fun I’ve ever had. And on top of that, I made an ace. I don’t think I can top that.”

Next week, Woods turns 49. He is overcoming a sixth surgery on his lower back in an endless stream of surgical visits, including his near-death SUV crash in 2021. Playing with Charlie is perfect for him, knowing he’ll never come close to winning another major and is lucky to make cuts in tournaments. He did walk all three days at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and said, “I’m nowhere near competitive shape. I’m a great scramble partner.”

Instead, he can spend the holidays watching NBC’s call of the hole-in-one.

“Really good contact,” Peter Jacobson said. “This is a great-looking shot if it’s the right number.”

“Oh, it is the right number. OH, IT’S A HOLE IN ONE!” Dan Hicks said. “Charlie Woods has made an ace at the fourth! And guess what, his father was actually not watching. He had to take a break for a second. Comes back out and hears the roar from the crowd. And Charlie Woods has made an ace at the PNC Championship.”

Walking to the green, Charlie was stunned. “I didn’t think it went in,” he told reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay. “I don’t believe anybody until I go up there and see it.”

We worry about the sons of legends. Was it fair for LeBron James to thrust Bronny onto the Los Angeles Lakers? Should Tiger be playing alongside Charlie as he tries high-school golf in South Florida? But more importantly, the audience involves more than his father. Last month, at the Miami Shores Country Club, who also was in the golf cart?

Elin.

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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.